Syrian Rebel Rockets Hit Northern Lebanon Neighborhood, Killing One

Syrian rebels launched multiple rocket attacks against the Lebanese town of Hermel today, killing at least one person and wounding several others in the first such strikes since the fall of the Syrian town of Qusayr.

Rebels inside Qusayr had been firing rockets and artillery at Shi’ite neighborhoods in Lebanon, nominally in retaliation for the Lebanese military Hezbollah’s aid to the Syrian government in the ongoing civil war.

Hermel is an overwhelmingly Shi’ite town, as have been the past areas targeted by rocket fire. Hermel had been hit late last month as well, in an attack that killed another civilian. The Free Syrian Army (FSA) carried out that attack, but no group has claimed responsibility for the new strikes, which according to reports involved between nine and 12 rockets.

The Lebanese government has sought to stake out a position of neutrality in the civil war, but its increasingly sectarian nature has fueled sectarian fighting in northern Lebanon as well. The Lebanese military has struggled to stop the fighting, and seems to have no real way of stopping the fighting that has spilled over directly into the border areas.